George Valentine, 66, who served as deputy director of the mayor's office of legal counsel, died on Friday morning after contracting the coronavirus, Bowser announced.
"We are all devastated. George's dedication to the people he served was evident in his work and in the love and wisdom he shared with residents and colleagues," Bowser said in a statement.
Valentine began working in the Mayor's Office of Legal Counsel in March 2019 after serving more than 16 years as a deputy attorney general in the District of Columbia attorney general's office, according to his LinkedIn page. He was a graduate of Harvard Law School.
Neal Katyal, an attorney at Hogan Lovells LLP who previously served as acting solicitor general, said on Twitter that Valentine was his first boss when he was in college.
"I knew no lawyers, my family knew no lawyers(&hated them) but he watched out for me b/c he knew that's what I wanted to be," Katyal tweeted.
Washington, D.C., had 267 confirmed COVID-19 cases as of Thursday, the last day for which figures were available, according to the Washington, D.C., Department of Health. Valentine is at least the third death in Washington, D.C., attributed to the virus.
--Editing by Amy Rowe.
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